It’s déjà vu in the worst way possible for Phantom BC, which will begin another Unrivaled season with a major contributor missing.
“Bienvenidos a Miami,” women’s basketball.
Some of the game’s finest are taking their talents (back) to South Beach as the second season of Unrivaled is set to tip off on Jan. 5.
Co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart and backed by a lauded group of investors, Unrivaled is a domestic three-on-three league that can and is meant to host more localized offseason endeavors for players who have made their names in the WNBA. Many familiar faces are making their way back to the action, which will briefly make its way to Philadelphia, while others will join the fray for the first time.
In anticipation of tip-off, Ballislife takes a look at each of the eight squads in a dedicated analysis. Haunting us next is the return of Phantom BC…
The Team: Phantom BC
The Debut: 4-10 (missed playoffs)
The Coach: Roneeka Hodges (1st season)
RELATED PREVIEWS | BREEZE BC | HIVE BC | LACES BC | LUNAR OWLS
Phantom BC: The Team
—Aliyah Boston
—Natasha Cloud*
—Dana Evans
—Tiffany Hayes
—Kiki Iriafen
—Kelsey Plum
—Satou Sabally* (injured)
(*returning to team)
It’s déjà vu all over again for Phantom, but unfortunately, they’re the ones left spooked.
For the second consecutive season, Phantom is left reeling from an injury to one of its headliners. Last time around, it was Marina Mabrey, who was unable to match up her return timeline with Sabrina Ionescu’s availability (much to the presumed relief of the scoreboard operators at Wayfair Arena).
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This time around, Phantom was able to bring back Satou Sabally, but the multi-faceted threat is still working off aftershocks from a head injury endured during the Phoenix Mercury’s WNBA Finals run. That’s a sizable loss for a group that was hoping to run off her two-way game, as it partly filled her void with post savants Boston and Iriafen.
Tenured veteran and recent top WNBA sixth woman Tiffany Hayes is the de facto substitute for Sabally after a strong showing in Golden State’s original starting five. It’s encouraging to see Hayes, 36, rejoin the hardwood fray so quickly after a literally painful WNBA season, and she has extensive three-on-three experience with Azerbaijan’s national program.
Stacked Frontcourt with Boston, Iriafen
Aliyah Boston, of course, helped sustain the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark-less momentum, but struggled in the three-on-three game as a reserve for original finalist Vinyl. Pairing her with the similarly-skilled Kiki Iriafen could be viewed as a risk in a game that relies so much on open space, but the opportunity to develop such a promising rookie was probably extraordinarily tantalizing for Hodges, who won a 2024 WNBA title with New York (working closely with Unrivaled founder Breanna Stewart) into the lieutenant role with the Connecticut Sun.
Familiarity still surfaces in the form of Natasha Cloud, who played her chemistry with Ionescu into a spot in the Liberty’s championship defense. Cloud will be joined by present and future backcourt threats Evans and Plum, who probably stand as the ones most capable of raising the Phantom’s stock on the leaderboard. Kelsey Plum is fresh off a sterling debut in her native California, while Dana Evans became one of her successors in a championship sequel in Sin City.
The Spotlight’s On: Kelsey Plum
Unrivaled is a game plum-made for Plum.
A free shooter like Plum, who has made a living off a sense of healthy reckless abandon from beyond the arc, is made to thrive in the open floors of three-on-three ball and now she gets to do so with Evans, who filled her role from a second unit standpoint in Las Vegas upon transferring from Chicago.
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By her own admission, Plum was very intrigued by the trios of Unrivaled in its debut season but had personal issues to attend to. Now, she’s thrown into an instant opportunity to play the heroine, one she has happily embraced and cashed in upon in her prior professional endeavors.
One thing that should be particularly intriguing is seeing Plum play in an untimed fourth quarter that targets a score. No one in the WNBA scored more period points in finales than Plum (one of only two, along with Hive’s Sonia Citron, to break the double-century mark in the department), and she was second in assists behind Alyssa Thomas of the Aces.
They Said It
“I think [what’s] going to be an emphasis for us as a team, Phantom as a whole, is to push the pace, play an up-tempo style of play. I think you seen some of the more successful teams in Unrivaled, in three-on-three, play with a good pace and also have the understanding of actually when to slow the game down. I think Kelsey and Dana both have enough experience and good quality experience to understand when they should push and when they should slow down and play a little more in the halfcourt. I think Unrivaled will be a great space for both of them to continue to develop their skill and continue to get a little bit better and continue to play and absolutely win and have fun.”—Hodges on utilizing Evans and Plum
“My first year in Unrivaled, I’m looking forward to winning. Obviously, I want to come out a champion. I want to be uncomfortable. I want to do things I wouldn’t normally do. I want to get out of my comfort zone and just challenge myself in that way.”—Evans on her goals in her first year of Unrivaled.
Outlook
Things were hard enough for Phantom when they had Ionescu, Mabrey, and Brittney Griner on the same roster. Building around Sabally seemed to be a solid plan to make things right, but fate dealt another cruel hand.
There will be sizable pressure on the backcourt reps, Cloud, Evans, and Plum, to carry the load until Boston and Iriafen find their groove. It’s a bold endeavor to stock up on post women in a three-on-three league, but perhaps Phantom’s already in a position where it doesn’t have much to lose after last season’s disappointment.
Mabrey’s early injury and Ionescu’s Miami schedule, interrupted by prior commitments, pushed Phantom to the bottom of the rankings, especially, most shockingly, the scoring column. Time will tell how it plays out, but the Phantom has conjured up an intriguing plan that should, at the very least, hold the South Beach faithful’s attention.
Schedule
| Phantom BC Schedule | ||
| Date | Opponent | Approx. Time (ET), TV |
| January 5 | Breeze | 9:15 p.m., TNT/TruTV |
| January 10 | Lunar Owls | 7:30 p.m., TruTV |
| January 12 | Mist | 7:30 p.m., TNT/TruTV |
| January 16 | Laces | 7:30 p.m., TNT/TruTV |
| January 18 | Hive | 8:45 p.m., TruTV |
| January 23 | Vinyl | 8:45 p.m., TNT/TruTV |
| January 25 | Rose | 2:15 p.m., TruTV |
| January 30 | Breeze (@ Philadelphia) | 7:30 p.m., TNT/TruTV |
| February 1 | Lunar Owls | 7:30 p.m., TruTV |
| February 7 | Mist | 8:45 p.m., TruTV |
| February 9 | Vinyl | 7:30 p.m. TNT/TruTV |
| February 20 | Laces | 7:30 p.m., TNT/TruTV |
| February 22 | Hive | 7:30 p.m., TruTV |
| February 27 | Rose | 1 p.m., TruTV |
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